Dumbwaiter biparting door coupling means



April 1, 1941.

LE ROY H. KIESLING.

DUMBWAITER BIPARTING DOOR COUPLING MEANS Pll nvEm-cm;

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7 Z m 8 l?. 2,7. vl m4 TIT' Patented Apr. 1, 1941 UNITED DUMBWAITER BIPAR TING DOOR COUPLING lVIEAN Le Roy H. Kiesling, Brooklyn, N. Y. Application November 22, 193s, serial No. 241,811 2 Claims. (o1. 292-126) This invention is a coupling means for a dumbwaiter biparting door system, having reference to means for latching together the combination of upper and under dumbwaiter or analogous doors to a shaftway, which doors are vertically slidable in opposite directions toward and from each other in the same plane, with flexible or other interconnecting means such that the lowering of the upper door causes the rising of the under door until they meet edgewise in closing operation and vice versa.

With such a door system it is an important requirement that when the doors are closed they shall, to minimize re hazard, be latched or locked in closed position.

Various latching or locking devices have heretofore been devised and used for this general purpose, but .as a rule these have either lacked adequate safety against fire hazard or have been inconvenient in practical use, or 'else unduly complicated or expensive in construction. The general object of the present invention is to afford an improved means or mechanism for locking or latching the doors in their closed position, especially one which will be safe, convenient, and simple. For ordinary occasions it may be suicient to lock in closed position the upper door, since thereby the under door is held to its closed position, but this is insufficiently safe for thereason that in case of certain contingencies, including the heating eect from conflagration, and including also dislocation or breakage of mechanism, the interconnections between the doors may become inoperative, allowing the under door to descend notwithstanding that the upper door remains in its lowered position. It is therefore a purpose of the present invention to aord, as a door locking means, an arrangement which positively and safely holds closed the under door by coupling it to the upper door, so that notwithstanding failure of interconnections, the two doors, taken as a unit, will continue to constitute an eiective closure for the openinginto the dumbwaiter shaft. Certain connecting devices between the upper and und-er doors have been heretofore suggestedor tried vfor this purpose, but they have been generally unsatisfactory and unsafe or inconvenient, and as far as is known no complete solution of this Vspecic requirement has yet been introduced or vdevised for practical use.

A particular object lof the present invention therefore is to alord a complete solution of the practical requirement or problem and'to afford a reliable and simple device which is'fadapted positively to couple together thectwo doors when closed-and yet is most conveniently operable for the purposes of rst uncoupling the doors vwhen they are to be opened and thereupon opening the doors, More specically the object hereof is to aiTord a coupling device such as referred to which comprises a manual lever or handle projecting frontwardly from the front of the upper door and which may be readily grasped and thrust upwardly with a single motion and therefore with simplicity and convenience of operation,` this single motion bringing about, through connections to be described, first the uncoupling of the doors from each otherk and then the elevating of the upper door accompanied by letting down of the under door. Other advantages of the present invention willbe elucidated in the hereinafter following description vof an illustrative embodiment thereof.

In the accompanying drawing, Fig. 1 is a general front elevation of a biparting door system, with door interconnections and certain other parts shown in dotted lines and with the under door partly broken away to show interior construction.

Fig. 2, looking from the rear, isa vertical section View taken on the plane 2-2 of Fig. 3.

Fig. 3 is a vertical section or View looldng from the right, taken on the plane 3 3 of Fig. 1 or Fig. 2.

Fig. 4, looking from above, is a horizontalsection View taken on the line 4-4 of Fig. 1 or Fig. 3. I f

Fig. 5 is a view similar to Fig. 4 showing a modication of structure.

In Fig. `1 are completely shown the upperdoor 8 and lower '9, vertically slidable in guideways I0. The upper door carries a depending skirt I I at its front side adapted to close the slight -clearance customarily allowed between the closed doors, the clearance being occupied by rubber'pads or bumpers I2 which Vthus cushion the impact of closing. Y

Fig. 1 shows the doors slightly open, orrather not yet closed in their approaching movements, while Figs. 2 and 3 'show the doors fully closed, and the skirt II coveringk the clearance. VFig. 1 further shows interconnecting means whereby the lowering of the upper door raises the under door, and vice versa, consisting in chains or flexible connections I3, at the two sides, each chain having its two ends connected to the two doors respectively, and the chains passing over overposed of sheet material, 2 feet high and 3 feet wide and 1 inch more or less thick.

The under door 9 is shown in detail in Figs. 2 and 3. Its front wall I6 and rear wall I1 are each peripherally lianged, the top anges being seen clearly in Fig. 3, overlapping and preferably welded together. For door coupling purposes the under door is provided with a hollow recess I8 just below the top plate and preferably closed by a bent strip or three-sided box I9 of adequate depth to receive the complementary coupling part or hook to be described. For access from above to the recess |8, the top wall of the under door is apertured or slotted at 20L This slot does not extend the full length of the recess I8, and as best shown in Fig. 2 a part of the top wall of the door overhangs part of the recess. This overhanging metal which may be termed an abutment, affords the coupling part 2| at its under side and a contact part or deflecting edge 22 at its upper side. The parts affording these two functions are shown combined in the same abutment but might be comprised of separate members. Outside of the recess or compartment I8 the under door may have its hollow interior stuied with insulating material 23 to minimize heat con-` duction, and of course the upper door may be similarly constructed.

The details of the upper door are shown not only in Figs. 2 and 3, but in the horizontal section view Fig. 4. Its front wall 24 and back wall 25 are flanged at their bottom and other peripheral sides, the flanges being preferably welded together. At the lower part of the upper door the back wall 25 is cut away at 26, Fig. 3, to give access to a recess or compartment 21 enclosed by three walls of a box 28, the box having also rear wall 29 which is exposed at the rear v,of the door and covers they cutaway recess 26,

this'rear wall being also bent into an underneath f iiange 30 located externally below the underneath iianges of the main walls of the door. Thus the box 28 may constitute an entity, bodily yattachable to the upper door by screws, and removable therefrom, and containing the swingable hook arm or coupling member to be described, this construction facilitating the proper relative mounting of the movable parts in the process of assembling.

It will have been observed that the door coupling means hereof does not necessitate any movable part on the under door, while on the upper door the entire action can be afforded by the use of only two movable parts, a handle member 3| and a coupling member 4|. disclosed device is therefore mechanically simple While of maximum convenience. The handle member is fulcrumed to rock about an aids parallel to the plane of the door, while the coupling member depends from and swings about an axis i at right angles to the plane of the door, so that the two swinging motions are about axes at substantially 90 to each other, the two movable parts being so interconnected that the manual wardly projecting handle 32 eifects first the swinging of the coupling member to uncouple the doors followed by the bodily lifting of the upper door, and vice versa. The coupling means as provided on the upper and under doors are f herein shown as centrally located, so that the actions may be performedby one hand, but naturally if desired, in the case of wider or heavier doors, the entire coupling means might be duplicated 4by providing handles near the right and left sides of the upper door.

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The handle member 3 I, having the frontwardly extending handle piece 32, rocks about a pivot stud 33 mounted in ears 34 outstanding from a plate or escutcheon 35. The handle member has also a rearwardly extending releaser or finger 31, extending into the door recess 21 and swingable downwardly when the front handle is lifted. The releaser nger 31 may have its rear or contact end 38 hardened, or may, as shown in Fig. 5, be provided with a spherical roller 39 engageable with the cooperating parts. The handle member naturally takes its position shown in Fig. 3, corresponding with the coupling of the two doors, because the handle piece 32 overbalances the finger 38; and the restoration of the handle to this normal position is further promoted by the operation of a spring 49 yet tobe described. The rocking axis and stud 33 are horizontal.

The movable coupling member 4| on the upper door is in the form of a swinging arm having a hooking extension, and may conveniently be termed a hookarm, the hub 42 of which is mounted and swings upon a fuilcrum or stud 43 extending frontwardly from the rear wall 29 of the removable box 28. The body or shank 44 of the hookarm is shown in the shape of a claw, or wide sweeping curve, its shank therefore being substantially offset from a line drawn from its axis of swinging to its low or hooking extremi-ty. As a result of this design of hookarm the center of gravity is materially offset, namely toward the right in Fig. 2, so that the tendency of gravity is to swing the arm leftward into its normal or coupling position.

The actual coupling portion 46 of the hookarm is in the shape 'of a horn or hook adapted to extend into the recess I8 of Ithe under door, when the doors are closed and to reach below the abutment or coupling portion 2| of the under door top wall, so that a positive coupling action is afforded by which the under door is sustained in engagement with the upper door, notwithstanding failure of the chains I3 or other door mount- It is to be understood that, as usual, the upper door is positively blocked against dropping below its closed position, a supporting means or lug 4I), located for example within each guideway I0, being indicated for this purpose, so that, when the doors are closed and coupled together they are so held as a unit, effectively and safely closing theshaftway opening as required.

The coupling claw or hookarm 4I is provided with means operable by the closing movement of .the doors to displace the hookarm from coupling position, thereby to permit the hook 46 to pass by the abutment 2| and assume its coupling position. While various displacing means might be employed for this purpose, there is shown a cam surface. at the lower terminal of the hookarm,

this inclined surface arranged to engage the contact 22, as the doors approach, the hookarm being thereby cammed from the full |line to the dotted line position in Fig. 2 during the entry swinging of the handle member 3| by its frontof the arm into the under door recess, followed by the resumption of the full line position shown. As already stated, this swinging back into coupling position is effected by gravity, ybut it may be supplemented by spring action, a spring 49 being shown to quicken the hookarm movement;

this spring extending from a projection from the hub 42 of the hookarm to a lug 50 iixed on the rear wall 29 of the removable box 28.

The description thus far covers all the mechanical parts and factions with the exception of the action between thel releasing nger 38 and thev istics.

hookarm 4I such that when the handle 32 is lifted, depressing the finger 38, the hookworm will be caused to swing aside, from the full line to the dot-ted line position of Fig. 2, so that its hook clears the abutment, uncoupling the under door, permitting the continued lift of the handle to raise the upper door, which in turn lowers the under door. Various kinds of connection could be afforded between the finger 38 and the hookarm 4l for this purpose, but very simply there is shown an inclined or cam edge 52 on the shank 4d of the hookarm, directly engageable with the finger 38, or with a roller 39 thereon as in Fig. 5, the cam or thrust' surface 52 being so inclined that when the finger is rocked downwardly it thrusts or cams aside the hookarm and thus swings it from coupling to release position. This connection between the handle member and the hookarm is such that the latter can be deflected to release position either from the former, or independently thereof by the contact 22 acting on cam 41, this being permitted by reason of the fact that the cam 52 is an open cam, the finger 38 being capable of deflecting but not restoring the hookarm. Normally the finger 38 constitutes a stop against which the hookarm is held by the force of gravity 'and the spring 49.

With the present invention both movable members, the coupling 4I and the handle piece 3l are so loaded, having the weight of each so dispose-d, as to tend to swing to normal or coupling position, which is important as a matter of safety in case springs may fail. The spring 49 tends to move the coupling and therefore the handle to normal position. While the construction may be varied Within the scope of the invention, the gravity loading of both members should be as stated, the design, as shown, placing the center o-f gravity in such relation to the pivot, in each case, that its tendency is for safety. The simplest and safest arrangement is to mount both movable members on the upper door and the abutment on the lower door, as shown, this also being the most convenient.

The handle piece 32 of this invention, as herei in shown, possesses certain important character- It has the heavy duty of starting into motion and moving the two heavy metal doors, 8 and 9, overcoming their inertia and friction.

The handle is specially adapted therefor by its substantial size and strength. It is of such length and cross section as to be grasped powerfully within the entire hand, as with a pump handle, and as necessary for the operation to be f performed, the complete opening and closing of both doors. It is heavy, and when idle drops by gravity into a normal inclined position nearer to the door, as in Fig. 3 shown. When manually grasped it is rst swung out and up to the dotted position, which uncouples the two doors; the continued rise lifting completely the upper and lowering the under door, with eflicient and comfortable muscular power.

What is claimed is:

1. In a biparting door system having a coupling abutment on the under door, the improvement of an operating means on the upper door consisting of two mov-able parts, first, a coupling hook member depending from a pivot to swing in the plane of the door and adapted to engage said abutment to couple together the doors, and -a manual member pivoted to rock about a horizontal axis parallel to the door plane and having a front handle liftable' to uncouple and open the doors and a rear extension lowerable to swing said hook member from coupling position.

2. In a dumbwaiter biparting door system of the kind having a running connection between the vertically slidable doors whereby the lowering of the upper door causes the rising of the under door until they meet edgewise in closing, and vice versa, and having door coupling means comprising a coupling abutment in fixed position on the under door and a coupling hook mounted swingably on the upper door in position for its hook to reach into coupling engagement beneath such abutment thereby positively to couple the under to the upper door; the improvement which consists in the combination of a depending hookarm carrying said couplingy hook and pivoted on the upper door to swing about an axis at right angles to the door plane, said hookarm having its center of gravity so located that by gravity it tends to assume its coupling position and having an inclined edge which by deflecting contact with part of the under door during closing causes the arm to swing aside for its hook to pass the abutment, anda handle member mounted on the upper door to rock about a horizontal pivot parallel to the door plane with its handle portion projecting frontwardly into manual access and with a rear- Wardly extending releaser which moves down when the handle is lifted, said swinging arm having a cam edge in such relation to said releaser that when the handle is manually lifted to raise the upper door the releaser first cams the hookarm to swing it aside so that its lrook clears said abutment and uncouples the under door whereby the upper door may be raised.

LE ROY H. KIESLING. 

